2025 – Trums Travels

I really enjoyed our time in Red Bay, Labrador. The locals would be in full bug gear before they left their house or business. We watched one of the Visitor Centre employees put full bug gear on just to walk down the street. You never saw kids outside playing or people walking their dogs. It was a completely different bug experience than in Northern Ontario!

But enough of that, moving on to the history behind Red Bay because it was fascinating. For over 5 centuries, the village has been here welcoming people to come and settle. In the spring time, from the 1540’s to the 1600’s, there would be 2,500 or more French and Spanish Basque Whalers sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the Strait of Belle Isle. They were in search of high quality oil to use for their lamps and soap making. It became a French trading post in the 1700’s with forts built for trade with the Inuit but it’s mostly known for it’s large-scale Basque whaling operations. The whaling operations ceased due to the decline of the whale populations. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, established in 1979, with wharf remains, shipwrecks, ovens for rendering blubber, cooperages and more.

The Right whales and Bowhead whales were the focus and neither are extinct but the Right whales are endangered and the Bowheads are of special concern.

The population is about 150 people with tourism being a big part of the town. Parks Canada runs the Red Bay Whale Exhibit and the Red Bay National Historic Site and World Heritage Site. We went to both and had lunch in a local restaurant. It was a very interesting day…………now for some photos….

A road we drove down
Scenery
Scenery
Right Whale Exhibit Museum
A second museum
An old Basque boat they found called a Chalupa and it’s over 400 years old
Inside the museum
The Right whales and Bowhead whales were the focus and neither are extinct but the Right whales are endangered and the Bowheads are of special concern.
Whale facts !
Area cemetery
Scenery in the town
Just an old building
Cute !
Whalers restaurant
Inside Whalers restaurant
The teepee-like structures are for stacking wood to dry for heating in the winter. Each household can get a government permit to cut wood in a defined area. Each stack is typically labeled with the owner’s permit number.